First Projects

[Monk]

When I first started riding motorcycles in the late 60's, I always admired a custom (of sorts) Triumph stored in a room adjacent to one of our local dealerships. The son of the owner had taken on a project that involved turning and replacing all the cadium plated bolts with stainless steel ones. When my father gave me custody of his 1970 Bonneville a few years back, I decided to do the same as a part of the "freshening up" I planned for his well preserved favorite. While two or three suppliers advertised stainless cylinder studs and head bolts, all of them were "out of stock" once I had the heads and cylinders off the bike. I did what any sane person would do: bought a lathe and made my own (after about a year of reading and experimenting). I found that each project led to another, and another, and another. The original bolts were pretty well rusted up, so I turned and threaded four studs and for head bolts. Only three of each are shown here as I stopped to complete another project for my dad (an antique gun oiler grouped with the bolts below).


Next, I replaced the hexagonal engine mounting stud nut, the rear brake rod, brake adjuster, and stoplight actuator rod with stainless parts.



Then we needed a triple clamp bolt and acorn nut. Then we needed chain adjusters which precipitated the need for a rotary table and mill/drill (covered in another post about 6 months ago). The Bonny seems to be a perpetual project in progress, as does the need for additional machinery (the mill/drill's z axis limitations absolutely forced me to acquire a used Bridgeport ) ).



The more I learn to do, the more amazed I am at how much more there is to learn (mostly, now, from the folks on this list. Thanks!).

 

[dave2176]

That is looking really nice. Great work.
Dave

 

[Kroll]

Nothing better than putting your personnel touch on a project.Stainless steel helps to take it to the next level,very nice----kroll

 

[chuckorlando]

Top notch there man. Nice bike. The thing about this trade/industry/hobby, that appeals to me more then anything... Every single day, for the rest of your life, there is something to learn. Provided a man retains a open mind in lieu of his ego.

 

[Bill Gruby]

Top notch there man. Nice bike. The thing about this trade/industry/hobby, that appeals to me more then anything... Every single day, for the rest of your life, there is something to learn. Provided a man retains a open mind in lieu of his ego.

It never stops Chuck, the only thing constant in this world is change, it never stops happening.

Nice work Monk. There is always a special sense of pride in the first projects you finish.

"Billy G"

 

[Monk]

Thanks, Bill. Those were the first projects, but they led to a few more. I started looking back through some folders on my computer after getting stalled on a Turner's Cube I'm attempting on my mill (Miller's Cube?), and found some things besides the machinist's vise I posted a while back. I'll post the ball turner this weekend. Thanks again for the kind words everyone.

 

[jtwade]

Nice work on the bike. Learning new and different ways to do things is the best part of machining, whether it is a hobby or a job. One can learn for a lifetime and still have more to go.

 

[dogcatcher]

Beautiful job.